Further to an analytical study carried out in 2012 which identified the need for a long-term Strategic Plan to provide a road map for NEASPEC’s future activities, together with the support from member States in the 17th Senior Officials Meeting (SOM-17), a draft NEASPEC Strategic Plan 2016-2020 has been developed by the secretariat. The Strategic Plan aims to strengthen NEASPEC to serve as a more effective and efficient vehicle for subregional environmental cooperation. 

This Meeting gathered national focal points (NFPs) of NEASPEC member States, to discuss the Strategic Plan, in preparation for its finalization and approval at SOM-20 to be held in February 2016 in Tokyo. In particular, it discussed long-term goals and approaches of NEASPEC along the five priority areas identified by member States, namely; 
- Transboundary Air Pollution 
- Biodiversity and Nature Conservation 
- Marine Protected Areas 
- Low Carbon Cities 
- Desertification and Land Degradation

The Meeting agreed on three goals of the Strategic Plan: 

(i) to enhance coordinated actions to address subregional environmental challenges including climate change; 
(ii) to mobilize mutual support to manage domestic environmental issues in member States; and 
(iii) to contribute to the implementation of national, regional and global goals for sustainable development, in particular, environmentally-related SDGs.